


Spilling Over

by wizardtwins



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/M, Family, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Cuddling, this is really ... self serving lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-04 01:31:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12760380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wizardtwins/pseuds/wizardtwins
Summary: Taako wakes up from a bad dream that he doesn't really want to talk about. Barry doesn't force him to. They partake in some much needed family bonding & healing.





	Spilling Over

Taako woke up in a cold sweat. Another nightmare. His sleep had gotten drastically less traumatic since his sister came back, and being next to Kravitz meant it was even easier to sleep soundly. Unfortunately, neither of these things were foolproof. He remained still for a few moments, trying to figure out if he’d done anything in his sleep to wake Kravitz up, but the soft snoring sounds emanating from him were enough of a sign for Taako. Seeing his spectacularly dead boyfriend so readily falling into the habits of the living always humored him, but this time, to see Kravitz sleep so soundly, to see him so vulnerable and so  _ close…  _ it hurt. He chased the thought away, but his mind wandered back to the nightmare that had woken him up.

It was one of his usual dreams, one that forced him to relive parts of his life that he would readily choose to forget, if he could. A name, one that filled his mind with anger and his heart with sorrow, escaped his mouth. “ _ Sazed. _ ” It came out louder than he wanted it to. 

Taako carefully wriggled out of his boyfriend’s arms and sat up on the side of their bed, taking note of his pounding headache and dry as fuck mouth for a moment, then got up and exited their bedroom. He could see perfectly fine in the dark, but still stumbled as he walked, a bit disoriented and still very tired. Easily noticeable from the hallway was a light that was still on in the living room. Eager to find out which nerd was also up at this ridiculous hour, he followed it around the corner and found Barry sitting on the couch, completely engulfed in some creepy looking book.

It was too good to pass up.

“MAGNUS!” Taako yelled, forgetting that it was four in the morning and three of his other family members were fast asleep in their bedrooms. It was worth it - Angus and Lup will understand, and Kravitz doesn’t fucking need to sleep anyways.

Barry jumped and accidentally tossed his nerd book onto the floor, losing the page he was on. He quickly turned around to find the source of his terror, who was currently doubled over in laughter. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he rose to pick up the book that had fallen onto the floor, straightened out his shirt, and sighed. “Hi Taako.”

“Sup Barold. I’m not sorry. I had to, my dude. Surely you understand.” The elf rubbed tears of both laughter and tiredness from his eyes and took a seat on the couch, patting it. “Why are you up so fucking late anyways?”

“I’m a reaper and a lich and I think you’ve spent enough time with me to know that I hardly sleep,” Barry said, only feigning annoyance, flipping through his book to try and find the page he had left off on. “And I should be asking you the same thing!”

Taako hummed, starting to feel an ounce of regret for scaring the shit out of his brother in law. “Y’know. The usual.”

Barry closed the book and looked up at Taako, frowning. “Nightmare?”

“Yeah.”

A few moments of silence passed between them before Barry spoke again. “Anything I can do?”

“All Taako wants right now is the ability to go back to sleep,” he said, pausing to yawn. “And maybe some water.” 

Barry was already getting up and making his way to the kitchen. “Well, I can handle the water,” switching to a whisper as he was standing much closer to Angus’s bedroom now. He got a glass out from the cabinet and held it under the sink. The faucet was suddenly the loudest noise in the house, causing Barry to wince slightly and put his finger up to his mouth as if to shush the water. He heard a small laugh coming from Taako’s direction, but ignored it. “And… you’re free to sit out here with me until you’re ready to go back to bed.”

“Nah, I won’t keep you from your creepy nerd book. I just came out to get some water and then snuggle back into the cold, dead arms of my loving boyfriend,” Taako said as he took the glass from Barry. After taking a long sip, he sighed.

“It’s nothing interesting, really, just some things from a recent job that I’m holding… for safe keeping. Are you sure?” Barry’s tone took a turn into serious territory, which made Taako an even mix of nervous and annoyed. 

“I’m good, Barold,” he stated, quickly and coldly.

“Taako, _I rolled an eleven._ ”

The elf made a mental note to get that catchphrase copyrighted. He would be proud in any situation other than this one, but right now just wasn’t in the mood. With another dramatic sigh, he put his cup down on the coffee table and said “Fine,” long and drawn out and  _ exasperated _ , as if Barry had grilled him on this for hours. It had been about 10 minutes.

“What was your dream about? Uh, I mean, if you don’t mind me asking. You don’t have to tell me,” Barry said, punctuated with a nervous laugh.

Taako closed his eyes and leaned back into the sofa. He wasn’t sure where to start, and wasn’t sure how much Barry knew about his life during the decade they spent without their memories. “More of a nightmare, my dude. A guy I dated for a bit, when I didn’t know who the fuck I was.” Intentionally vague. Taako had hoped he could keep his side of the conversation on the same level of detail, but Barry stomped that dream out right away.

“Sazed, then?” 

Taako gulped, a bit shaken from hearing that name. “That’s the one. Wait, who the fuck told you?” 

“I’m married to your sister, Taako, take a wild guess,” Barry said through an apologetic smile. “She worries about you, you know.”

“And I worry about her for marrying such a dweeb,” Taako grinned, not missing a beat. He immediately felt a pang of guilt run through him for taking a cheap shot at his friend, who was very clearly trying to be serious. The sudden remorse turned his cheesy grin into a frown.

Barry sighed and smiled, as he always did whenever Taako or Lup would make fun of him. Sometime over the last century he had learned to enjoy it. “Yeah, yeah, okay. What… what did he do? Sazed? Or is it just Glamour Springs?” Barry was too good at keeping the conversation where he wanted it, and Taako was too tired to keep trying to derail it. “Did he hurt you?”

Taako’s frown deepened. Memories of yelling, rough hands, concealed bruises and unwanted kisses in unwanted places flooded his mind. He felt himself tense up, and gripped onto the edge of the couch to try to ground himself. Tears threatened to fall down his cheeks but he fought to keep them from doing so. Taako looked down, not finding the words to reply to his friend’s question and feeling angry at himself for having such a visible reaction to it. That was enough of an answer for Barry.

“Fuck, I’m sorry, I…” Barry moved closer to Taako, putting a hand on his shoulder. He felt his brother-in-law slightly recoil at the contact, but quickly relax into it. “You don’t have to talk about it. It’s okay. He’s not here, and if we ever find him, if he ever tries anything... Fuck, Taako, I’m sorry. I’m sorry we weren’t there.” Barry was rambling, trying to fix the mess he thought he made.

Taako let the buildup of tears fall from his eyes as he shut them, moving closer to Barry and pulling him into a hug. Barry was shocked at the sudden, uncharacteristic movement of his friend, but leaned into the embrace anyways. They sat like that for a while, Taako’s head resting on his brother in law’s shoulder, in complete silence throughout the whole house. He wouldn’t ever admit it, but being held by Barry made him feel safe. It kept Taako in the moment, stopping his mind from wandering back to dark places. Barry and Lup - and everyone else - had been back in his life for over a year, but every now and then, it was still far too easy to feel alone. Even with Kravitz, whom he loved more than anything, Taako’s demons still crept up on him at the most inopportune times. He let his emotions spill over like an overfilled cup and tightened his arms around Barry, who responded by hugging Taako tighter as well. 

“Thank you,” was all Taako could muster, mumbled quietly into Barry’s shoulder. After a few more moments, he let go enough to give Barry the freedom to lean into the back of the couch and readjusted himself to rest his head on his friend’s lap. He was comfortable, safe, and extremely tired. “If we were in a porn shoot, this is when we would fuck.”

Barry, not shocked by the whiplash - he’d known the twins long enough to not  _ always  _ fall victim to their shenanigans - laughed and placed a hand on Taako’s head, moving a few stray hairs away from his face. “Lup would have a field day with that.”

“Mmm,” was Taako’s only reply before his exhaustion caught up to him. He felt Barry use Levitate to rest a blanket over them, and then drifted off into sleep.

 

* * *

 

Kravitz awoke to a quiet knock on his bedroom door and a very empty bed. It was still pretty dark, but the soft yellow light spilling in from the window promised a sunrise. Before his tired mind let him question the situation, he sleepily walked over to open the door and found a grinning Lup waiting beyond it.

“You have to fucking see this, goth boy.” Lup grabbed his hand and led him out towards the living room, where all of his questions laid answered. Literally -  his boyfriend’s small frame was lying on the couch, head resting on a snoring Barry, with Angus tucked snugly in his adoptive father’s arms, all three of them sound asleep. Kravitz couldn’t help but smile. He drank in the image of his boyfriend resting so comfortably. Angus often left his own bedroom to come sleep beside Taako, so Kravitz assumed it was just one of those nights. While he was admiring the sight, Lup was already making moves to join the snuggle session, burying her head into Barry’s shoulder on the opposite side of her brother.

The reaper took one last look at his family, a warmth growing in his chest that he was now very accustomed to feeling. He joined them, placing a kiss on both Taako and Angus’s foreheads before settling into a comfortable position. As he drifted off into sleep once again, Kravitz noted that he should ask Taako who ‘Sazed’ was when they all woke up.

**Author's Note:**

> hallo hallo & thank you for reading this fic. i started it at 4am when i went to get a glass of water and was struck with this idea. and then couldn't sleep until i wrote some of it. so i did. and then i finished it. wow, what a good story.
> 
> come yell at me on tumblr !! @wizardtwins !!!!!
> 
> & shout out to the discords i'm in for supporting me thru rewriting this after i realized it sounded like a barry/taako porn setup! lmfao!


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